Globovisión quickly eases combative stance after sale

Nine days after the pro-opposition TV station
Globovisión was sold to businessmen rumored to have close ties to the
Venezuelan government, the station's new leader was welcomed to Miraflores
Palace for a cordial sit-down with President Nicolás Maduro.

"You all know why Globovisión could not come to
Miraflores Palace" in the past, Globovisión President Juan Domingo Cordero told reporters after the May 21
meeting. "That's never going to happen again."

Cordero was referring Globovisión's long-running
battles with the late President Hugo Chávez, who died on March 5. As the
conflict escalated, Chavez's socialist government denied Globovisión reporters
access to official events and information and barred government officials from
appearing on the station.

Hit with huge government fines, losing money,
and facing the probability that its license would not be renewed in 2015, the
owners sold a majority stake
of Globovisión to Cordero and two other businessmen. Cordero insisted that the
new Globovisión would cover all sides of the news while working to reduce
political tensions and promote peace. The government, in turn, signaled a truce
by allowing Health Minister Isabel Iturria to appear on Globovisión on Tuesday this week.

"The conflict and fascist manipulation exercised
by many right-wing elements in this country must end," Vice President Jorge
Arreaza, Chávez's son-in-law, told reporters after attending the meeting. "The
goal is to have a climate of peace in which the truth prevails."

But some media analysts are troubled by the
changes at Globovisión, even as they insist they support fair and balanced
news coverage and acknowledge that Globovisión often went overboard in slamming
the government and pumping up the opposition.

"You need to have some middle ground. It's never
good when a channel supports just one candidate or one political side,"
Marianela Balbi, executive director of the Caracas-based Institute for Press
and Society, told CPJ.

The problem, Balbi and others say, is that
nearly all the other TV stations in Venezuela are either run by the state and
serve as government mouthpieces or have shied away from critical coverage of
the government because they fear reprisals. Globovisión was a lone government
watchdog on TV and one of the few outlets where opposition viewpoints could
reach a mass audience. It paid a steep price,
including multimillion-dollar
fines, for its editorial position.

In this lopsided
TV landscape, Globovisión's decision to chart a more moderate course could
substantially reduce air time for government critics. Balbi pointed out that Globovisión has
already cancelled two programs that often slammed government officials--"Aunque usted no lo crea" (You won't
believe this) and "Usted lo vió" (You
saw it).

Globovisión has also discontinued its policy of
providing wall-to-wall live coverage of speeches and press conferences by
opposition politicians, such as Henrique Capriles, who lost to Maduro
in last month's presidential election.

"No media outlet is obligated to broadcast live
or dedicate time to the declarations of a politician," Globovisión said in a communiqué
Monday.

Last week, Globovisión announced that opposition
legislator Ismael García would no longer anchor the "Álo, Venezuela" news program. On Monday, Francisco Bautista, a
part-time communications consultant for Capriles who hosted "Buenas noches," a talk show critical of
the government, announced on his Twitter account that he had been ousted
from Globovisión and criticized "the censorship they are
imposing."

In its communiqué, Globovisión said García left
by mutual accord and that Bautista was removed from his show for publicly
criticizing García's departure without first speaking with Globovisión
executives about the issue.

As Globovisión distances itself from the
opposition and aims for more balanced coverage, there is no sign that
pro-government TV stations are following suit by toning down official
propaganda and opening their microphones to critics, said Marcelino
Bisbal, who heads the post-graduate journalism program at Andres Bello Catholic
University in Caracas.

For now, most Globovisión journalists are
staying put, including several marquee names. For example, the staunchly
right-wing Leopoldo Castillo continues to host of the popular "Aló, Ciudadano" call-in program and to
hammer away at the Maduro government.

"I know there is an information imbalance and
that state-run media have become propaganda organs," Castillo told viewers on Monday. "But
Globovisión cannot be a battlefield trench that uses those same vices. The
country demands something more."

Still, the Globovisión brand was built on
combative journalism and the station could lose legions of loyal viewers if it
goes too soft on the Maduro government. Indeed, the station immediately lost more than
200,000 of its Twitter followers amid the controversy over the exit of García
and Bautista.

Meanwhile, viewers disgruntled with the new
Globovisión as well as opposition politicians looking to spread their message
may end up relying more and more on social media. When he first learned of
Globovisión's new policy not to carry his speeches live, Capriles tweeted the
news to his nearly 3.4 million followers.

"There were no press conferences, no
microphones, and no reporters involved--just Henrique and his Twitter account," wrote Juan Cristobal
Nagel on the widely read blog Caracas
Chronicles. "While it is tempting to be frightened at Globovisión's demise,
it's possible that we may not need it in the end."

John Otis, CPJ's Andes correspondent for the Americas program, works as a correspondent for Time magazine and the Global Post. He authored the 2010 book Law of the Jungle, about U.S. military contractors kidnapped by Colombian rebels, and is based in Bogotá, Colombia.

Comments

"The problem, Balbi and others say, is that nearly all the other TV stations in Venezuela are either run by the state and serve as government mouthpieces or have shied away from critical coverage of the government because they fear reprisals. Globovisión was a lone government watchdog on TV and one of the few outlets where opposition viewpoints could reach a mass audience."

Um, sorry? State-TV only commands a 5% audience share in Venezuela (much less than the BBC in the UK) and unless things have changed radically in the last year, around 70% of the media is privately-owned, around a fifth is community-run and under 10% is state-owned. The privately-run media is overwhelmingly hostile to Chavez/Maduro.

So Balbi and 'others' (guys on the street?) may say these things, but it's demonstrably not true...

Also, this may interest you, if we're talking about media impartiality in Venezuela:

"some media analysts ... acknowledge that Globovisión often went overboard in slamming the government and pumping up the opposition."

This presumably refers (in part) to Globovision's promotion of the 2002 coup, repeatedly broadcasting false accusations of violence by pro-government demonstrators and celebrating the (short-lived) coup. But when hundreds of thousands of government supporters poured into the streets, Globovision abruptly ended its blanket coverage and broadcast old movies while the coup plotters were forced to reinstate the democratically elected president. (See also http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5551)

Of course, Faux News has fawned over gun-happy Tea Party rallies hysterically denouncing the Marxist-Muslim, Kenyan-born president Hussein Obama. This is American-style TV journalism. But if Faux openly promoted use of those guns to depose occupants of the White House and Congress, the FCC might see the issue as more serious than a bared nipple.

I certainly hope the new Globovision does not shy away from *responsible* reporting on and criticism of the Venezuelan government, and that in turn state and public media will tone down their pro-government bias. I even hope CPJ, unhappy as it might be, will take a more balanced approach.